The White Mountains, New Hampshire and Maine

You know you are a thru-hiker when... a challenge to eat three industrial size pot pies is taken seriously.

It is great to see everyone's guesses and comments. At the moments we only have a very vague idea of when we are going to finish so all of them are possible. Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes.

Our resupply in Hanover was interesting to say the least. Mike climbed the first mountain out of town with a french bread stick strapped to the side of his pack while Zan carried a pound worth of tea-cake. A few months ago while we were still in New Jersey we invited everyone we were hiking with to High Tea. On the invitation we specified that "some tea and pot would be provided..." This combined with the fact it was called "High tea" lead to quite a few misunderstandings. (marijuana has been decriminalised in quite a few states here.) Unfortunately we only had one guest, who just happened to be English so we spent the next hour discussing the peculiarities of American culture.

After leaving Hanover we eagerly headed towards the White Mountain State Forest. We had been warned that from there on the trail was going to be tough and that we could expect vertical rock faces and alpine areas but would be rewarded with spectacular views.

Franconia Ridge was our first major walk above tree line. We powered past multitudes of tourists and struggling day hikers to summit Mt Lafayette. The view was breath taking. In the distance we could faintly see Mount Washington, our destination in a few days.

We spent the night of Zan's birthday in the Lakes of the Clouds Hut, just below the summit of Mount Washington as hired servants for the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC)Hut crew. It was a blast. For a few minutes of sweeping we got all the chicken pot pie we could eat, a spectacular sunset and free bunk space on the mess hall tables. Despite all claims we finally conceded that 3 pot pies are entirely too much food for even 4 thru-hikers to consume in one sitting. Maybe two would be possible... We awoke the next morning to the paying guests drinking coffee by our feet at 5am.

After our morning chores we finally pried ourselves away from the hut and climbed the 1.5 miles left to the summit of Mount Washington. We had some photos we took of the view to show you but we had technical difficulties. The best way for you to experience what we felt and saw is...
1. Find a room sized freezer (a refridgerated truck will suffice).
2. Put as many people as you can find in it.
3. Turn a fan on full blast.
4. Hold up a white piece of paper in front of your face.

Welcome to Mount Washington.

Mount Washington is 6288 feet and is the tallest mountain in New Hampshire. Its claim to fame is that it is the place where the highest wind speed ever was recorded, 231 miles per hour. You would expect such a harsh environment to be a little bit inaccessible to the general public. Through the fog we staggered towards the snack bar only to be almost run over by a train as we stumbled onto the railroad tracks and then have a car swerve away from us at the last minute.

We stayed in the snack bar building for about an hour. By the time we were ready to leave the wind had picked up so much that we could barely stand outside. Playing it safe we decided to hitch into Gorham for the night. It seems strange to be hitch hiking from the tallest mountain in New Hampshire and our poor little thumbs almost froze off before someone felt sorry for us and picked us up.

Two days later we finally made it back up to the top of Mount Washington. The day was clear, the wind was calm and the views were great.

Our next big hurdle in the White was the Wildcat Range. It is a series of peak with some climbs up shear rock faces. At the top of the first one we discovered a gondola where Zan firmly stated, "No, we are not going to the snack bar at the bottom. I can see us ending up in Gorham for the night if we do that." Ten minutes later we were sitting in a gondola car heading towards the snack bar with Gorham as our ultimate destination and Mike nursing a swollen wrist. Some people will do anything for a cheese burger.

Ten minutes earlier (Zan's side of the story):

Dodging our way past all the gondola day hikers we breathed a sigh of relief as we finally left them all behind. Just as we could no longer her the whistle of the gondola Zan stopped to make use of the wilderness facilities. Humming away to her self she began following Mike down the trail. Suddenly she heard a loud "oh bother" (contents censored for sensitive readers) corner to see Mike lying half in the bushes and half on the trail.

Ten minutes earlier (Mike's side of the story):

Mike was walking along thinking about what he normally does when he is walking... steak.... Suddenly he found himself lying half on the trail and half in the bushes. Staring harshly at the slippery rock (Mike does not like rocks) and said, "Oh bother" (censored for sensitive readers)

Deciding to play it safe we headed into Gorham to get Mike's wrist checked out. As we were sitting outside the gas station waiting for the bus to the local hospital a woman pulled up. "Are you guys thru-hikers? I hear you are on your way to the hospital. Can I give you a ride?"

Within seconds we were on our way to the Hospital as she explained to us that she was the editor for the travel section of a newspaper out of Minneapolis, Minnesota. She was writing an article on thru-hikers as part of a series on pilgrimages.

While Mike was getting his wrist seen to Zan spent two hours chatting to the reporter. No break showed up in the x-rays but was told to "take it easy." The next day we were back on the trail.

A couple of days later we crossed into Maine, our final state of the hike.

Mahousic Notch is infamous. It is a mile long section of the trail that passes through a boulder field. We found ourselves scrambling over, under, around and through boulders the size of houses all in the freezing cold rain. We had a whale of a time. (Phil would understand)

So here we are in Bethel, Maine. Where we have been for the last two nights. Never fear we plan to head back to the trail tomorrow and knock over the last 266 miles soon...

Hanover, New Hampshire

You know you are a thru-hiker when... You measure your weeks in Miles per day.

That bring us up to date. We are currently in Hanover, New Hampshire and have 440 miles and 2 states left to walk. We have the White Mountains and the 100 Mile Wilderness to look forward to.

Since we know that some of you have bets running as to how far we will get on this trip we would like to propose our own challenge for you all. See if you can guess our finishing date and time (to the nearest minute).

To help you in your guess:

1) We currently have 440 miles to go.
2) We plan to average around 15 miles a day, however there are sections where we are told we may only be able to manage a mile every 2 1/2 hours and other sections where we may be able to average 20 miles a day.
3) Today's date is the 4th of August.
4) We are currently planning to finish around the first half of September.
5) On the day of our summit it will be a 5 mile walk to the top. We climb around 4000 feet over those 5 miles. You can do the conversions yourself.

The Rules:

1) No parents guessing (or helping others guess).
2) Post your guess in the comments section of this blog (so we can find it easily) with your name, a finish date and time.
3) No guesses after the 17th of August.
4) For those of you with itineraries, throw them in the bin. They no longer mean anything.

The Winner:

1) Will be the guess closest to the time we touch the sign on the Summit of Mt Katahdin (US Eastern Standard Time).
2) Must reside in one of the countries on Planet Earth.
3) Must be older than 3 months.
4) Will receive an autographed postcard from Baxter State Park written on the summit of Katahdin.
5) Must know what Mt Katahdin is.
6) Will be invited to join us for drinks, country permitting. We will be in Europe during October, New England and New York for the latter half of September (So foreign nationals feel free to enter) and Australia after then.

Good luck and look foreword to seeing your guesses.

Bennington, Vermont

You know you are a thru-hiker when... signs that say "no public access" do not apply to you.

As we walked out of Pennsylvania into New Jersey we began to see where the flood waters had been. There was mud caked 3 meters off the ground and trees were listing at a 45 degree angle from the force of the water. The State Park authority had cordened off the trail for health reasons with huge neon signs stating that there was "No public access until further notice." Being thru-hikers and needing to head north no matter what (see last blog) we stepped around the baracade without breaking stride. A few meters later we came across a Park Ranger sitting in a fold out chair. Within minutes we were sitting down and discussing the trail conditions before he happily waved us on our way. He pointed out to us that the bridge we were about to walk under had been 3 meters under water.

They say that if you do not see a bear in New Jersey you will not see one for the rest of the trail. We did not actually see one...

It was getting dark when we arrived in camp and we spent 10 minutes arguing about whether we needed to hang a bear bag. Eventually common sense won out and we proceed to throw a line. Let us just say that we lost the first two and the third one was a bear pinata. We had to cut our 15 meter rope a few times and the remaining length was about as long as a child's shoelace. Just as we were getting into our tent Mike realised that he had forgotten to put most of his food in the bear bag. After much swearing we lowered the bag and re-hung it, but not before we lost another few meters of rope. About 10 minutes later as we were just settling down Zan began to laugh hysterically. 2 minutes later she threw a bottle of Coke out the tent...

At midnight we both awoke to the sound of something large, heavy and bear-like attacking our food bag. We debated the merits of drawing attention to ourselves all wrapped up in our tent like a 'little debbie snack' as E-rock so eloquently puts it. Rather than be stumbled upon by our midnight guest we began to shout, sing and generally shake the tent. The poor little bear must have thought it was strange to hear a 'little debbie' signing and dancing. It must have worked because our food bag was still there in the morning but the coke bottle was mysteriously empty.

We felt at home in New Jersey, it was a lot like hiking in Sydney. That was until we reached Vernon, NJ. About 10 miles south of town the world's entire population of mosquitoes descended on us. As we ran along clouds of the followed and strategically attacked any exposed skin. Aeroguard was useless.

We arrived panting and harassed at the road into town and confidently tried to hitch a ride. An hour, 3 rude gestures and 6 "it is illegal in New Jersey!" comments later, we eventually managed to make it to a local bar in time to watch the World Cup Soccer finals with Tex and Hot Springs.

Mouse, Jangles, Baro, Shasta, Mike and Zan at the highest point in New Jersey

By the time we got back on the trail we were eager to leave New Jersey behind. As soon as we entered New York everything was different, or so we thought. It rained, there were mosquito clouds, there were lots of boulders to climb and people were generally in a big hurry.

The trail in New York goes through a zoo and thru-hikers get free entry. At first we were really excited about it until we saw the "Do not feed the hiker" signs. All through the zoo there were exhibit signs explaining about thru-hikers and "their natural habitat". We both felt like the guy in the Mickey Mouse costume at Dinseyland as parents grabbed us to have our photo taken with their precious darling child. As the Sexy Monk puts it, "hey come have your photo taken with the freak."

Things began looking up the moment we entered Connecticut. As soon as we crossed the border we were greeted by a cooler full of beer, soft drink, bagels, animal crackers and bug repellent. We were in hiker heaven. We found the perfect campsite next to a picturesque river in a pine forest where we reunited with some hikers we had not seen for ages, Low-gear and Kilgore Trout.

Mike enjoying some "Trail Magic"

Before we knew it we were in Massachusetts and began to see sub-alpine areas. We saw tiny pine trees on top of Mount Greylock, the highest mountain in Massachusetts.

For Sale. Anyone interested? (near the Mount Greylock summit)

We have been told that the further north we go the more beautiful the scenery will get. If Vermont is anything to go by Maine will be phenomenal.

We told you so!

Last seen heading north

Another great thing about being in Vermont is that we've started to pass people who started in Maine. We always had the suspicion that they were crazy and finally meeting them has confirmed this. If they're like this after only 400 miles, we can only imagine what they'll be like after 2000!